Any particular set of golf clubs includes a plurality of clubs each having a different club head weight, a different shaft length and, consequently, a different overall club weight. The combination of all of these factors requires a golfer to take a different stance and, in effect, a different swing when using each respective golf club. In order to be somewhat proficient at the game of golf, a golfer must therefore practice and attempt to master the various stances and swings associated with using any particular known set of golf clubs. As is well known, all golfers seem to have at least one Particular club within any given set which they feel more comfortable with in using and swinging and in which they can more accurately control when hitting any particular golf shot. In total contrast, golfers avoid using other clubs within the same set of golf clubs because they never seem to swing those other clubs Properly. Normally, golfers prefer using the shorter irons as proper use and control of these clubs are easier to achieve with some degree of regularity as compared to the longer irons and woods.
Golf clubs are available featuring a wide variety of variations in design and construction, all of which are directed to achieve any number of different desired results including improved performance and control. In this regard, a wide variety of methods for weighting and balancing golf clubs are known and have been utilized to some extent in an effort to overcome the inherent difficulty of using the longer irons and woods associated with a particular set of clubs thereby, hopefully, improving the Performance, control and handling characteristics of such clubs. For example, some of the known methods for individually balancing golf clubs include various swing weight balancing methods (see U.S. Pat. No(s). 3,371,523 and 4,203,598); matching moments of inertia, frequency of vibration, and adjusting flexural shaft rigidity (see U.S. Pat. No(s). 3,703,824 and 3,871,649); torque balancing a particular set of golf clubs wherein the inherent twisting moment of all such clubs is held constant (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,286); and weighting a particular golf club so as to take into account the various characteristics associated with club head mechanics (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,700). All of these weighting and balancing methods avoid and/or circumvent the dynamic characteristics of a golf club during a swinging or oscillating motion and all, in effect, represent a static balancing of such clubs. This is true even of the swing weight method disclosed in Benoit U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,324 wherein, although dynamic characteristics of golf clubs are discussed in relationship to moment of inertia and radius of gyration, the disclosed swing weight method of Benoit is still tied to static parameters since the resulting static moment associated with an individual golfer's optimum moment of inertia is then held constant for the entire set of golf clubs. Also, unlike the present method, the Benoit swing weight method specifically adjusts the radius of gyration for each individual golf club to optimize the feel and performance of such club. In fact, in the Benoit method, the radius of gyration is varied for each specific club so that the position of the center of percussion of each such club remains in the club head. This is totally different from the improved balancing method disclosed herein.
While the above-identified known weighting and balancing techniques attempt to take into account at least some of the dynamic characteristics associated with a golf club swing, none of the known prior art methods tie their methods, calculations and/or techniques to the true dynamic equations representative of the swinging motion of a golf club, nor do any of the known prior art methods hold the radius of gyration constant for all clubs in a particular set. The present method for weighting and balancing golf clubs relates the shaft or pendulum length of the club and its associated center of gravity location to the radius of gyration through the dynamic equations involving compound pendulum motion. This more accurately describes and simulates the dynamic characteristics associated with swinging a particular golf club and more accurately balances such golf clubs based upon both dynamic as well as static characteristics.